/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.5777469]

Anyone has any idea how does the brain regulate/suppress/modify emotions?
I don't need just the name of the brain region but also actual way it interacts with and overrides emotions.

For example it was dark and i was afraid and i convinced myself to not be afraid.
It is supposed to be instinctual to be afraid of the dark for the obvious evolutionary reasons but i "conquered" my emotions by reasoning.

How is that possible?

[Anonymous No.5777474]

It's not possible, you're the mentalist.

[Anonymous No.5777477]

Holy fuck that ass.
I try to control myself and not to fap but i cannot.

[Anonymous No.5777503]

No one knows, especially not anyone in here.
Maybe CNS or some other neurofaggot.

[Anonymous No.5777640]

>>5777469
The amygdala and the hippocampus are the primary brain structures involved in emotion. Where the amygdala is basically the emotion factory of the brain, the hippocampus is where one can learn which situations to apply emotion, such as you learning not to feel fear in dark rooms.

[Anonymous No.5777666]

>>5777640
Very interesting, where can i learn more on this very specific thing?
What's your background?

So when you perceive darkness your neurons fire to produce fear that in turn fires other neurons that promote defensive behavior.

How is it that i interupt this process?
When i say "the room is the same but without light, darkness doesn't change anything, i shouldn't be afraid", that makes me less/not afraid.

How is this interpreted in firing neurons?

[Anonymous No.5777692]

It also depends on your genetics. If you're more neurotic, you might panic even to benign stimuli or to threats which you imagine that exist.

Your brain is tuned to simulate the external physical environment and to evaluate if it's potentially dangerous. To a self-confident person going into a dark room might not be such a scary thing, since their mind tells them they control their environment whatever happens, while yours doesn't (it panics it might not be able to cope with something jumping from the unknown towards you).

[Anonymous No.5777705]

>>5777666
Not him but

>Very interesting, where can i learn more on this very specific thing?
Take a neuroscience course if you can, youtube videos (lectures, not pop sci), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affective_neuroscience, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion#The_neurocircuitry_of_emotion..
>How is it that i interupt this process?
Most emotional responses are mediated by higher brain centers, the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Emotions that are based on external stimuli such as fear and anger can be mediated 'easier' than emotions which are based on internal homeostasis and regulations of your own body, such as hunger or pain.
>How is this interpreted in firing neurons?
You can think of emotions as neurons releasing neurotransmitters into synapses (the space between two neurons) which are then used as messengers to think or feel, etc. Some neurotransmitters have certain roles associated with them, such as dopamine and seratonin for the 'feel good reward cheer happy' classic look. Other neurotransmitters such as GABA inhibit neurons from releasing some neurotransmitters. So a possible way your higher brain can 'interrupt' and mediate emotions is by inhibiting (through GABA) an emotional response by preventing the release of those neurotransmitters which are involved in the emotion.

[Anonymous No.5777707]

>>5777692
Yes i can see how genetics might give each person different level of predisposition to fear and pretty much everything.

The main here am trying to tackle is how your conscious mind communicates with your emotions.
I really can't wrap my head around it.

If i can convince myself to not be afraid/disgusted/aroused/surprised/etc then i could do anything i wanted.
I could make myself want to do things that i initially i avoided like plague.
Self regulation is insanely critical for anything you want to do.

[Anonymous No.5777715]

>>5777666
You can learn about this in any introduction to neuropsych or psychology textbook, really.

I'm studying psychology with plans to go into biopsych/neuropsych.

>So when you perceive darkness your neurons fire to produce fear that in turn fires other neurons that promote defensive behavior.

pretty much.

>How is it that i interupt this process?

If you mean consciously, pretty much through dictating your thoughts to how you want it to happen - placebo is a powerful thing.

>How is this interpreted in firing neurons?

I don't fully get your question, but if you mean on a cellular level, neural pathways change. For example, one group of cells could be responsible for the production of fear, and it could be connected to another group of cells that are responsible for recognizing darkness. With inactivity (i.e no fear of the dark) the pathways between the brain cells just die.

>>5777692
Good point.

[Anonymous No.5777723]

>>5777705
But GABA as you mentioned is also a neurotransmitter right?
So that would mean if you depleted your GABAs you'd be unable to cut off emotions as fear?

[Anonymous No.5777739]

>>5777715
>>5777705
So i have 2 different and possibly complimentary theories on how you can cut off an emotional response.
One is by releasing GABA neurotransmitter that inhibits the release of others, eventually stopping the response you desire.
The other is that you actually distract yourself from the stimuli instead of actively trying to stop it.

[Anonymous No.5777742]

>>5777723
If you depleted GABA you'd fall over and die, probably with lots and lots of spasms. It mediates many many many responses in your brain, and it's constantly reproduced/reuptaken. So no.
And 'fear' (and the associated cascade of physiological responses) is one of the primal responses in amygdala so you likely aren't going to achieve a 'cut off' unless you have a neurological condition. Your higher brain centers as mentioned can inhibit it though through several mechanisms; ie; you growing up and realizing the dark isn't scary, or you can have responses that overcome you being afraid (such as epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol released as a response to fear).

[Anonymous No.5777746]

>>5777739
Both work, the GABA part is the neurobiology of it, the distraction is the psychology of it.

[Anonymous No.5777744]

>>5777723
Technically yes, but the brain/pharmacists has a bunch of ways to stop signals within neurons, not to mention the fact that's it's pretty hard to deplete neurotransmitters.

[Anonymous No.5777761]

>>5777744
>hard to deplete neurotransmitters
When i fap 5-7 times a day i feel depressed, don't want to do anything event the most fun and easy things.
I just want to die.

Isn't that like depleting a neurotransmitter associated with feeling good?

[Anonymous No.5777769]

>>5777746
Oh you mean that when am distracting myself gaba is being released to block the "fear neurotransmitters"?
So essentially they're the same thing.

[Anonymous No.5777770]

>>5777739
Refer to >>5777742 in that there are a bunch of ways a person can reduce the effects of emotions in a situation, but a 'cut off' is pretty darn difficult to achieve.

[Anonymous No.5777777]

>>5777770
Yes it makes sense, so just lessen the ferocity of an emotion.

[Anonymous No.5777780]

>>5777777
Christian Bale agrees.

[Anonymous No.5777790]

>>5777780
For a while I was confused and trying to work out how Patrick Bateman's psychological disorders tied into this, but then I realized you were making a dubs joke. On ya.

[Mutemattics !!58hTUK7XbfZ No.5777812]

>>5777790
>not being able to predict that on a basic 4chan standard posting model.

You calling yourself a scientist?

[Anonymous No.5777822]

>>5777777
>>5777780

[Anonymous No.5777869]

So neurohomos, how correct is this model picrelated

[Anonymous No.5777930]

>>5777869
Wishy washy correct, stepping between neuroscience and psychology. Fine for pop sci use.

[Anonymous No.5777935]

>>5777930
>implying it isn't the most correct representation of reality than any other scientific discovery.

[Anonymous No.5778052]

>>5777935

[Anonymous No.5778142]

>>5777469
>i convinced myself to not be afraid
No dumbass. You trained yourself to not be afraid of the dark, even if you didn't realize it.
Children lose fear by gradually exposing themselves to whatever it is. As the danger was imagined there is no reinforcement to the fear and it is unlearned. Sometimes there is significant positive reinforcement to challenging the fears. This is the technique used by most parents. They just compliment or give a treat to the courageous child.
You can control your emotions the same way. Plan situations where your emotions get stirred. Also plan rewards you give yourself when you manage to control it. It can be food item you love the most or a picture of a person you admire or have feelings for. But the more intense the reward the better. Never succumb to the temptation of giving yourself the reward when you lost control. That would be reinforcing your problem. So carefully plan ahead the most you can.

[Anonymous No.5778331]

>>5778142
The patterns match with the ones wiki references that attributes the signified gamma desolators within the axiomatic pretense of course.

[Anonymous No.5778922]

>>5778142
>convinced myself to not be afraid
>trained yourself to not be afraid of the dark
>arguing that they're different things

You pretty much just said what has already been established in that the OP learnt to not associate darkness with fear. Also, conditioning is not the only way to learn a behavior/break a habit, please finish you first year of psychology and then report back.

[Anonymous No.5779270]

>>5778922
>conditioning is not the only way to learn a behavior/break a habit
Conditioning is the most sure way to deal with emotional response and reaction to them. No amount of rationalization can compare to it.

>You pretty much just said what has already been established
OP implied he used argumentation and verbal reasoning:
>>5777469
>but i "conquered" my emotions by reasoning.

Then he asks:
>overrides emotions
>How is that possible?
>>5777666
>When i say "the room is the same but without light, darkness doesn't change anything, i shouldn't be afraid", that makes me less/not afraid.
He is pretty much ignoring the conditioning and reinforcement learning and focusing on learned verbal reasoning as the cause of his changed behavior. That is not what experimental evidence demonstrates at all.